Sofa back construction



July23f1957 w. F. RICHARDSON 2,800,166

SOFA BACK CONSTRUC'ION.

.Filed .July 29. 1953 2 sheets-sheet 1 A July 235 l957 w. F. RICHARDsoN 2,800,166

son BACK CONSTRUCTION IFiled .July 29, 1953 l l 2 sheets-shane V Erg-Z.

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'nited' States Patent 2,800,166 Patented, July. 23, 1.957

ffice SOFA BACKCONSTRUCTION WilliainF Richardson; Carthage',Mo., assignor t0 Flex- Lators, Inc., Carthage,.Mo.,.a-: corporation-ofjMis souri Application July 29, 1.953, Serial `N0.,370,`9.19

2', Claims.` (Cl. 1554-179.)

This inventionrelates to new anduseful improvements insofa construction, and relates particularly. to.th`e.frame and spring portions of'sofabacks.

The principalfob'ject of the; present invention.. is theprovision of a sofa back construction which provides. a.s`of or resiliently yieldable edge at the upper. edge. of. the back, in. a construction utilizing sinuous. or. zig-zag? springs. rlhis type of spring comprises a pluralityL of. wires.. each bent into sinuous form in a plane,-.being. attached at. its opposite ends respectively to. more or less rigidsupport members at the upper and'lower edgesl ofthe sofa back, and arched forwardly between its ends. If the upper edge of the sofaback` is tobe of the sof 3 type, its is evident that the upper support of the sinuous. wires must be yieldably supported for considerable movement. Heretofore this lack of' a rigid ysnppor-tmember atlthe top' has virtually eliminated the` use of` sinuousl springs in Vsoft-edge sofa backs, since. theV downwardi drag. of therbackssof persons using the sofa tended-to pull. the upholstery and springs of the back downwardly. The upper ends of the sinuous springs didnothavev suicient'ver'tical support, and furthermore sinuous springs do not lend themselves vefficiently to support at intermediate points. The present invention contemplates the provision of means, in a sofa back of the class described, whereby the upper ends of the sinuous springs are provided with virtually rigid vertical support, but whereby said upper spring ends are left free to move resiliently in a direction at right angles to the plane of the back, thereby imparting the desirable soft edge characteristic to the sofa back.

Other objects are simplicity and economy of construction, and eiciency and dependability of operation.

With these objects in view, as well as other objects which will appear in the course of the specification, reference will be had to the drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view of a sofa embodying the present invention, with the entire seat portion and all of the upholstery omitted.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line Il-II of Fig. 1, with the upholstery layers shown attached to the back.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on line III-III of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on line IV-IV of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on line V-V of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a agmentary sectional View taken on line Vl-VI of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line VII-VII of Fig. l.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line VIII-VIII of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line IX-IX of Fig. 8.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 2 refers to a sofa frame constructed of wood or other suitable material and including a pair of end frames 4. Each of said end thereon (see Figs. 5 and 6).

frames comprises a front upright6, a rear upright 8, a base member 10 connecting the lower ends Yof said up.- rights, a horizontal arm member 12 connecting the. up.- per end of upright 6- with an intermediate point offupright 8, and a cross bar I4 extending between said uprights intermediate base member 10 andarm 12. Said end frames are. connected by front and .rearbase members 16 and 18. Rear upriglits 8 extend above arms 12 to forma portion of the frame for the sofa back, .said back frame beingcompleted by a horizontal top rai1'20 extending between and xed to the upper ends ofuprights 8, and a horizontal bottom rail'22 extending; between and fixed to crossA bars, 14,' rail 22. beingparallel to and'spaced forwardly from rail 20.` Rail20.,is supported. at intermediate points by a pair of support posts 24.aiiixed attheir upper ends to said rail and attheir lower ends to rear base member '18. A wing 26 .is .formedin connection with each end` frame 4 by'a board inserted and aixed to the angle. between' the upper surface. of arm 12 and rear up right 8.

A plurality of sinuous wire spring elements. 28lare disposed substantially vertically in horizontally. spaced apart relation along ,the back frame. Each ofv said wires is bent sinuously to form a series of parallel reaches connected by arcuate, bends, as clearly shown in Fig. l. The lowermost reach ofeach springis mounted pivotally in a sheet-metal clip 30a`1xed to the forwardface of bottom rail 22 (see Fig. 4). The uppermost reachofeach'spring isV pivotally attached by a sheet metal clip. 321to a relatively heavy steel' anchor rofl` `34v spaced forwardly from and parallel'to top rail 20 (see Fig. 3). Said anchorrod is heldresiliently in spaced relation fromgsaid top rail' by a plurality of substantially V-shaped* springs 36. also formed of'sinuously bent wire, onejend of each of' said springsbeingV attached torod`V 34' byi its inclusion inone of the clips 32 attachingk springs 28 to1said`- rod, andthe other end of saidf spr-ing being' pivotallyA attachedY tothe forward face of the top rail by means of a clip 38. The number of springs 36 used may of course be varied as desired. It is apparent also that various other types of compression springs could be used in place of springs 36.

Rod 34 is supported vertically at spaced apart points along its 'length by a series of support rods 40 disposed just behind and approximately parallel to the spring plane determined by springs 28. The upper end portion of each rod 40 is carried slidably in the leg portion of a T-shaped tubular member 42, and the cross-arm portion of said T- member is fitted slidably on rod 34 for pivotal movement The lower end portion of each rod 40 is bent at right angles and secured pivotally in a sheet metal clip 44 secured to bottom rail 22 in rearwardly spaced relation from springs 2S.

Rod 34 is secured against movement in a direction.

parallel to its axis by a pair of cranks 46 normally substantially parallel to rods 40, and associated respectively with the frame wings 26 at each end of the frame. One end of each crank is bent at right angles to the body of the crank, and is disposed pivotally in a anged tubular bearing 48 which is countersunk and fixed in frame wing 26 A(see Figs. 8 and 9). The free end portion of the crank is also bent at right angles to the body of the crank, and

is disposed coaxially with the adjacent end portion of rod 34. A tubular member 50 is welded or otherwise fixed to the free end of crank 46, and the associated end of rod 34 is fitted pivotally therein. Sinuous springs 28 are braced against lateral movement at intermediate points in their lengths by a series of wire links 52 extending between and looped about convolutions of each successive pair of springs.

Fig. 2 shows a representative, though in no way restrictive, mode of attaching upholstery to the previously described frame and spring construction. The padding working into the spaces between the springs. lower edges, the cover and protective fabrics are secured to the lower side of bottom rail 22 as by tacks 60. At

. 3 layer 54, which may be felt, fiber, or other suitable material7 is laid over the forward face of springs 23, being included between a decorative outer cover fabric 56 and an inner protective Vfabric 58 .which may be of textile,` wire, cords, or other material and which is disposed between the padding and the springs to prevent the padding from At their their upper edges said fabrics are led over rod 34 and thence over the top of top rail Zit, and tacked to the rearward surface of said top rail as at 62. TheV seat por- Vtion of the sofa, and the padding and upholstery for. the l arms and other portions form no part of the present in- Vention, and are not shown. l

In operation, it is apparent that the downwarddrag of the backs of personsV using the sofa can not pull .the

`springs and upholstery forming the back downwardly out Y of shape, said springs and upholstery being supported firmly against downward movement by rods et?. At the 'same time, due to the fact that rods 40 are pivoted so that the upper ends thereof can move freely toward top rail The rotatability of the end portions of rod 34 in the tubillar socket 50 of cranks 46 prevents any possibility that the cranks could impart any torsional strain to said rod, which might otherwise tend to deform springs 28 and 36.

Although lI have shown and described a specic embodiment of my invention, it is readily apparent that many minor changes of structure and operation could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as dened by the scope of the appended claims.

Cil

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A sofa back construction comprising a frame including substantially parallel top and bottom rails disposed rigidly in spaced apart relation and extending from side to side of the sofa, an anchor rod substantially parallel to and spaced forwardly from said top rail, a plurality of vertically extending spring elements disposed in spaced relation along said rails each of said spring elements being secured at its lower end to said bottom rail'and at its upper end to said anchor rod, compression springs eX- tending between and attached at their opposite ends respectively to said anchor rod and said top rail, a plurality of substantially vertical support rods each connected at its lower end to said bottom rail for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to said anchor rod, means connecting the upper end of each of said support rods to said anchor rod,V a pair of cranks mounted pivotally in said frame respectively at thefopposite ends of said anchor rod, the axis of said cranks being parallel to but offset below said anchor rod, and means connecting the free ends of said crank respectively to the opposite ends of said anchor rod, whereby longitudinal movement of said anchor rod is prevented.

2. The structure as recited Vin Vclaim 1 wherein said means connecting each of said `cranks to the anchor rod comprises a socket atlxed to the free end of said crank, whereby the corresponding end of said anchor rod is fully seated and axially oscillatable.

l vReferentces Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATESV PATENTS l 2,149,350 Kloppman Mar. 7, 1939 2,185,036 Menge Dec. 26, 1939 2,280,912 Hopkes Apr. 28, 1942 f FOREIGN PATENTS 1,007,531 France Feb. 6, 1952 

